In recent years, there has been the development of actuators composed of organic polymers.
PTL 1 discloses a long actuator including a pair of long electrode layers each containing a conductive material (carbon nanotubes), an ionic liquid, and a polymer and an ion-conductive layer arranged between the pair of electrode layers, the ion-conductive layer (electrolyte layer) containing an ionic liquid and a polymer. A longitudinal end of the actuator is held by terminals. A voltage is applied to the terminals to transfer carriers, i.e., electrons or holes, in each of the electrode layers, thereby creating a potential difference between the electrode layers and causing bending deformation.
For the long actuator described in PTL 1, however, the electrode layers have a problem of the aggregation of the conductive material. Thus, when a voltage is applied to the terminals arranged at the longitudinal end of the actuator, a potential difference is created between the end and the other longitudinal end.